Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the designation of land owned by Ms X as Greenbelt under the Council’s Local Plan. This is because the matter has already been the subject of earlier complaints to the Ombudsman and because Land Registry information Ms X has more recently obtained is not new information which would lead us to investigate the same matter again.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Ms X, complains the Council unlawfully included her garden and outbuildings as part of the Greenbelt under its Local Plan while information she has now obtained from the Land Registry shows it removed a business and its car park from the Greenbelt at the same time.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. For a number of years Ms X has complained to the Council about the inclusion of part of her land as Greenbelt within the Council’s Local Plan. This matter has been the subject of earlier complaints to the Ombudsman.
8. Ms X says she has recently obtained a copy of the title plan of a business placed outside the Greenbelt at the time her land was placed within it and that this supports her view that the Council was wrong to include her land as Greenbelt in the Local Plan.
9. We will not investigate Ms X’s latest complaint about this matter. Past events fall outside our jurisdiction due to the passage of time, we will not consider again the same issue as that raised in earlier complaints to the Ombudsman and the title plan information is not new information which would lead us to investigate the matter again.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because the matter has already been the subject of earlier complaints to the Ombudsman and because Land Registry information Ms X has more recently obtained is not new information which would lead us to investigate the same matter again.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman